Stinger
Seed "Stinger" Crownleaf'Revealed in Broken Pride page 280 is a male baboon who appears in ''Broken Pride that found and befriended Fearless Gallantpride. He is also the father of Berry Highleaf. Stinger was responsible for murdering Grub Crownleaf and Bark Crownleaf. He planned Great Mother's murder and ordered Stronghide to murder her. After Stronghide was exiled from Bravelands and died, Stinger illegally pronounced himself as the Great Parent, as the new Great Father. Physical Appearance Stinger has red eyes fringed with brown fuzzy fur, a long black snout with a thin white scar above his nostrils, and long yellow fangs. He also has slender brown paws.Broken Pride page 25 Personality and Traits Stinger appears as both a kind and open-minded character, such as when he rescued Fearless and had no qualms against accepting him into Brightforest Troop, despite him being a lion and the fact that many others of Brightforest Troop distrusted the lion cub. However, as the story progresses, it's revealed that while Stinger is open-minded and more willing to adapt to changes than Grub, he is far from kind but rather cruel, ruthless, greedy and power-hungry as he was responsible for Grub's and Bark's deaths. He did this so he could become the leader and to give his troop "guidance" as well as getting power. Stinger breaks the Code and tells Thorn that he did what must be done, saying that he would make a better leader than the former Crownleaves, though he does terrible things to Brightforest Troop afterwards. In Blood and Bone he's revealed to be sadistic as he took pleasure out of killing his predecessors and seeing them suffer along but not limited to with seeing Fearless and his Strongbranches attack Thorn. Stinger is an individual who only cares about power and is willing to kill and swindle to get it. He's also shown to have a high ego as he felt no remorse for his actions not only because he was rewarded with power but because he thought the Crownleaves including the former Crownleaf of Crookedtree Troop, who he killed and backstabbed, saying they deserved it supposedly because they were weak and unfit for leadership. Overall Stinger is an example of one who's ambitions gone too far leading to his downfall. Biography Pre-Series Born as Seed, this arrogant and power-hungry baboon was long-banished from his original troop until he came to be accepted in Crookedtree Troop in Shadow Forest, where he eventually mated with Pear and had Berry with her. At one point, he craved for power so much that he couldn't take it anymore, so he outright murdered the troop's Crownleaf at the time, Marula, without really planning out how his plan would go down or how everyone else in the troop would react to him killing her in plain sight. As a result, he was immediately banished, but he forcefully took his infant daughter with him so he would not feel quite alone, traumatizing Pear. Eventually, with baby Berry clinging to his back, Seed joined Brightforest Troop and soon become one of the troop's Highleaf councilors, lying to everyone, including Berry, that the troop he and his daughter came from was evil and that they had killed Berry's mother. Because of Seed's taste in scorpions and his technique of removing their venom before eating them, he gained the nickname Stinger. Broken Pride Stinger is first seen rescuing Fearless from an eagle's nest. After Stinger brings Fearless down he introduces the cub to the troop. One year later Stinger tells Thorn, Mud and Berry about his taste for scorpions and tells them it's the reason why his nickname should be "Stinger". Sometime later Stinger backstabs and murders Bark, so he can take her place as Crownleaf. He kills Bark by smashing her skull with a rock and blames it on a hyena she previously fought. Stinger then runs against Grub for Crownleaf and tells the troop why he should be chosen instead of Grub. Stinger's scheme backfires when Grub wins the vote. During Thorn's third Feat, Stinger changes his opponent to Mud so Thorn can become a Highleaf. Thorn however loses on purpose so Mud can become a Lowleaf. After waiting for the right moment, Stinger kills Grub by intoxicating his food and trick Nut into giving it to him. The plan works and Stinger blames his crime on Nut and has him exiled. Brightforest Troop then appoints Stinger as Crownleaf. Thorn finds out Stinger's betrayal and confronts Stinger who then responds that his crimes were "necessary" so the troop can have "guidance" and threatens to kill Thorn if he tells on him. At one other point, as part of his new plot to conquer all of Bravelands, Stinger secretly met with the rhino leader of Stronghide's Crash, Stronghide himself, one night, knowing by reputation how the rhino resented Great Mother Sun Strider and believed her to be arrogant for being unable to save the life of his dying daughter Brighteyes. Stinger manipulated Stronghide, convincing him to kill Sun Strider. Stinger told him that even though it seemed like breaking the The Code, he had heard a rumor that killing a Great Parent would make the killer the new Great Parent. To add to this lie, Stinger told Stronghide that he would also be avenging Brighteyes at the same time. Stronghide agreed, believing Stinger's lies to be true in that he would both avenge Brighteyes and become the next Great Parent by killing Sun Strider. In truth, Stinger knew for a fact that, even though Stronghide would strongly believe that killing Sun would make him the first non-elephant Great Parent, the rhino would inevitably fail at his false job and eventually be overthrown by the other animals once the secret of him murdering Sun spread. This was all part of Stinger's plan to remove the real current Great Parent Sun and wrongfully take the title for himself, more signs of him not actually believing in the Great Spirit. Code of Honor As the newly appointed Crownleaf, Stinger creates a new rank called the "Strongbranches" which allows any baboon regardless of their rank to have as much political power as a Highleaf. However, the Strongbranches have to be loyal to their leader above all else even if that means allowing them to do whatever they want regardless whether that was right or wrong. Blood and Bone Coming soon Shifting Shadows When Sky goes to drink from the watering hole during her herd's stay at Baboon Island, she finds his skull and has another vision. Killed Victims * Marula Crownleaf * Bark Crownleaf * Grub Crownleaf * Great Mother (Indirectly caused) * Stronghide * Starleaf (Indirectly caused) * Frog (Indirectly caused) * Thud * Snarl Fearlesspride * Rain Strider (Indirectly caused) Gallery Stinger.jpg Stinger by moonbut-dbkpi5f.png Stinger Crownleaf.jpg Trivia * He got his nickname for his love of eating scorpions. ** Stinger also used scorpion poison and a rock to kill his predecessors: Marula, Bark, and Grub. * Stinger is the first baboon introduced into the series. * His original name was Seed. It's unknown if Stinger requested this name change or not. * He is Gillian Philip's favorite character in Bravelands. * Gillian Phillip doesn't think Stinger has always been greedy or selfish but acknowledges that he'd always been single-minded and ruthless.https://twitter.com/Gillian_Philip/status/1051240828717404160 * Stinger was middle aged at death and Gillian Phillip thinks he had been in several troops before he became a member of Crookedtree Troop.https://twitter.com/Gillian_Philip/status/1056546599235710978 * In Blood and Bone, Stinger is referred to using the pronoun her in the memories Sky reads.Blood and Bone, page 276 Kin Members: '''Mate: Pear Goodleaf (formerly): Deceased Daughter: Berry Crownleaf: Living (as of ''Shifting Shadows'') Tree References Category:Brightforest Troop Category:Characters Category:Highleaves Broken Pride Characters Category:Code of Honor Characters Category:Crownleaves Category:Antagonists Category:Fathers Category:Crookedtree Troop Members Category:Animals Category:Baboons Category:Blood and Bone Characters Category:Codebreakers Category:Deceased Characters Category:Deceased Males Category:Deceased Mammals Category:Leaders Category:Males Category:Mammals Category:Mentioned Shifting Shadows Characters